SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics GP

Installation

To install and run SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics GP, your system must have the following components installed.

• A supported SSIS design-time or run-time, which can be one of the following:
  • Azure-SSIS Integration Run-time
  • SSIS 2022
  • SSIS 2019
  • SSIS 2017
  • SSIS 2016
  • SSIS 2014
  • SSIS 2012
  • SSIS 2008 R2
  • SSIS 2008
  • SSIS 2005 (No longer supported since v4.0)

  For SSIS run-time, the installation should be done by using the corresponding SQL Server installation media (most likely in CD/DVD format), and you must select the "Integration Services" component during the installation (as shown below).

  

  Note that when using SQL Server 2014, a cumulative update is required (a recent service pack, such as one of the following, is preferred) in order to run our software during run-time.

  • SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 2: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=53168
  • SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 1: https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=46694

  For SSIS design-time, you should be installing the version of SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools) or BIDS (Business Intelligence Development Studio) that aligns with the SQL Server version that you plan to use for your final deployment (the run-time).

  Target Server	Design Time
  Azure-SSIS IR	Any one of the following: SSDT for Visual Studio 2022 SSDT for Visual Studio 2019 SSDT for Visual Studio 2017
  SSIS 2019	Any one of the following: SSDT for Visual Studio 2022 SSDT for Visual Studio 2019
  SSIS 2019	Any one of the following: SSDT for Visual Studio 2019 SSDT for Visual Studio 2017 SSDT for Visual Studio 2015
  SSIS 2017	Any one of the following: SSDT for Visual Studio 2019 SSDT for Visual Studio 2017 SSDT for Visual Studio 2015
  SSIS 2016	Any one of the following: SSDT for Visual Studio 2019 SSDT for Visual Studio 2017 SSDT for Visual Studio 2015
  SSIS 2014	Any one of the following: SSDT for Visual Studio 2019 Packages created using SSDT 2019 need to have their project's TargetServerVersion setting set to "SQL Server 2014" in order to work with SSIS 2014. SSDT for Visual Studio 2017 Packages created using SSDT 2017 need to have their project's TargetServerVersion setting set to "SQL Server 2014" in order to work with SSIS 2014. SSDT for Visual Studio 2015 Packages created using SSDT 2015 need to have their project's TargetServerVersion setting set to "SQL Server 2014" in order to work with SSIS 2014. SSDT-BI for Visual Studio 2013
  SSIS 2012	Any one of the following: SSDT-BI for Visual Studio 2012 (recommended; most reliable) SSDT for Visual Studio 2019 (not recommended due to potential compatibility issues with ISV solutions) Packages created using SSDT 2019 need to have their project's TargetServerVersion setting set to "SQL Server 2012" in order to work with SSIS 2012. SSDT for Visual Studio 2017 (not recommended due to potential compatibility issues with ISV solutions) Packages created using SSDT 2017 need to have their project's TargetServerVersion setting set to "SQL Server 2012" in order to work with SSIS 2012. SSDT for Visual Studio 2015 Packages created using SSDT 2015 need to have their project's TargetServerVersion setting set to "SQL Server 2012" in order to work with SSIS 2012.
  SSIS 2008 R2 or earlier	The Business Intelligence Development Studio that is shipped with the installation media of the corresponding SQL Server version.

• Windows Operating System

  Windows operating system requirement largely depends on the version of SSIS run-time or design-time selected. We don't have any additional requirements in terms of the Windows operating system as long as it satisfies the minimum requirements of SSIS run-time or design-time. The general guideline is the newer the operating system is, the better. In summary, our software should work for the following Windows operating systems.

  • For desktop systems (mostly for development workstations)
    • We generally recommend Windows 10, version 1507 or greater.
    • Windows 8.1, 8, or 7 should work fine with our software installation which supports most SSDT versions and SQL Server 2016 or below, but we highly recommend you upgrade to Windows 10 because of their support status with Microsoft.
  • For server systems (mostly for run-time deployments)
    • We generally recommend Windows Server 2016 or greater (Including Windows Server 2019 and potentially future Windows Server versions).
    • Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 should work fine for SSIS versions up to 2016.
    • Windows Server 2008 should work fine for SSIS versions up to 2014, but we highly recommend upgrading to a more recent version due to its support status with Microsoft.
    • If working with SSIS 2008, it might be possible to work with Windows Server 2003 R2 (even Windows XP for development workstation), but it is definitely not recommended, and neither do we officially support such installations. In such cases, Windows Installer 4.5 needs to be installed by downloading it from the Microsoft website.
• .NET Framework
• • Our software requires the installation of .NET Framework 4.5.2 or above
    • For SSIS 2016 or above, .NET Framework 4.6 (or above) is generally a prerequisite, no additional installation is required.
    • For SSIS 2014 or lower, you may turn on the .NET Framework feature or install it by downloading it from the Microsoft website.
  • When working with SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2, .NET Framework 3.5 is required, which is generally installed along with SQL Server installation.

When you have confirmed that your system satisfies the above prerequisites, you can navigate to the KingswaySoft website at https://www.kingswaysoft.com to download the installation package.

After you have downloaded the package, you can install the software by following the installation wizard.

Working with SSIS Toolbox

SSIS Toolbox is the first place that you will be looking for our components to be added to your ETL process during the design time.

If you are working with SSIS 2012 or later, SSIS Toolbox should be automatically available during the design time once you have an SSIS package opened provided that you have our software installed properly. If you are not seeing the SSIS Toolbox, you would either click the SSIS Toolbox menu option under the SSIS menu, or click the SSIS Toolbox icon in the design window's upper right corner as shown below.

Note: When working with SSIS Toolbox, you need to make sure that you are in the right view in order to see the right components. For instance, if you are looking for a data flow component, you need to make sure that you are in the Data Flow view, not the Control Flow view. Visual Studio would show different components depending on the design view that you are currently working with.

When you working with SSIS 2008, you would have to add our data flow components to the SSIS Toolbox manually. To add the data flow components, create a new data flow task if you do not have one yet and switch to the SSIS data flow page. Right-click on the toolbox area to bring up the context menu, where you can select the "Choose Items..." option as shown below.

You will be presented with a window called "Choose Toolbox Items". Switch to the "SSIS Data Flow Items" tab, and select the components from the list.

Once the data flow components are available in the SSIS Toolbox, you can start your ETL development by dragging them from the toolbox to the Visual Studio design surface.

Setup a Database Connection using the Dynamics GP Connection Manager

SSIS Integration Toolkit for Dynamics GP includes an SSIS Connection Manager component to help you establish database connections to Microsoft Dynamics GP database catalogs.

To add a new GP connection to your SSIS package, right-click the Connection Manager area, and choose "New Connection..." from the context menu. You will be prompted the "Add SSIS Connection Manager" window, where you can select "DynamicsGP" and press "Add..." to create the connection.

The GP Connection Manager contains two tabs

• Connection
• More Info

Connection

The Connection tab of the GP Connection Manager allows you to specify connection string settings.

Enter GP database server information

Server Name

The Server Name field allows you to specify the SQL Server address where your Dynamics GP database is located.

Authentication

The authentication section allows you to specify your login credentials to the SQL Server database, whether by using a Windows account via integrated authentication or by using a SQL account by specifying a username and password.

Initial Catalog

The Initial Catalog field allows you to select the database catalog where your Dynamics GP is located.

ErrorCodes Catalog

The ErrorCodes Catalog is used by the GP Destination Component to report the description of GP ErrorCodes. This should be the database catalog to GP's main catalog, usually 'DYNAMICS'. This is an optional field. If no value is provided, GP errors will be reported as integer values. You may query DYNAMICS.dbo.taErrorCodes for a list of ErrorCodes and their description.

Dynamics GP Version

Specifying a different Dynamics GP version will load a different set of Dynamics GP schema to be used in GP source and destination components.

Test Connection

After all the connection information has been provided, you may click "Test Connection" to test if the user can successfully log in to the SQL Server database.

More Info

The More Info tab shows some basic information about where to find support and additional information about the toolkit. On this page, you can find the version information of the toolkit.

Adding GP Components to the SSIS Toolbox

Before you can use the toolkit's data flow components, they must be added to your SSIS toolbox.

• If you are using SQL Server 2008 R2 or earlier, you must add them to the SSIS toolbox by following the instructions below.
• If you are using SQL Server 2012 or later, you should not need to do so, as SQL Server 2012 (or a later version) automatically lists all available pipeline components by scanning the system. Under certain circumstances, your SSIS toolbox might appear empty, in which case, you should click the SSIS Toolbox button (shown below) on the top-right corner of your Control Flow or Data Flow view.

  

Adding GP Data Flow Components to the SSIS Toolbox (SQL Server 2008 R2 or earlier)

In BIDS 2008 or 2005 (depending on which SQL Server version you are using), create a new data flow if you do not have one yet, and switch to the data flow page. Then right-click on the toolbox area to bring up the context menu and select the "Choose Items..." option as shown below.

You are now presented with a window called "Choose Toolbox Items". Switch to the "SSIS Data Flow Items" tab, and check the Dynamics GP components from the list.

You should now be able to use the component by dragging and dropping a component to the design surface of your SSIS data flow task.

Using the GP Source Component

The GP Source Component allows you to read data from your GP database. The component allows you to write custom queries to retrieve data, or simply choose a source object to read from.

General Page

The General page is where you will configure most of the setup details. You can specify your query, or select a source object to read data from.

Connection Manager

The GP source component requires a database connection to your GP database catalog. You can specify a GP Connection Manager here to facilitate database connectivity.

Source Type

Select either to retrieve data from a source object, or from a custom SQL query.

Source Object

If the Source Type selected is Object this dropdown is enabled to let you select which object to read data from.

SQL Query

If the Source Type selected is SQLQuery, the SQL Query builder is shown. The SQL Query builder allows you to write custom SQL queries. You may also insert SSIS variables into your custom query.

Refresh Component Button

Clicking the Refresh Component button causes the component to retrieve the latest metadata and update each field to its most recent metadata.

Expression fx Icon

Click the blue fx icon to launch SSIS Expression Editor to enable dynamic updates of the property at run time.

Generate Documentation Icon

Click the Generate Documentation icon to generate a Word document that describes the component's metadata including relevant mapping, and so on.

Columns Page

The Columns page lists all the available metadata fields for the object that you wish to read from. You can select a subset of metadata fields that you wish to retrieve data for.

Using the GP Destination Component

GP Destination Component is an SSIS data flow pipeline component that can be used to write data to the Microsoft Dynamics GP server. You may Create, Update, Delete, and Void GP records using the GP Destination Component.

GP Destination Component includes the following three pages to configure how you want to write data to the Microsoft Dynamics GP server.

• General
• Columns
• Error Handling

The General page is used to specify the general settings of the GP destination component. The Columns page allows you to map the columns from upstream components to GP fields in the destination table. The Error Handling page allows you to specify how errors are handled should they occur.

General Page

The General page of the GP Destination Component allows you to specify the general settings of the component.

Connection Manager

The GP destination component requires a GP connection to connect with a Microsoft Dynamics GP server. The GP Connection Manager option will show all DynamicsGP connection managers that have been created in the current SSIS package or project.

Action

The Action option allows you to specify how the data should be written to Microsoft Dynamics GP. There are four (4) action types available.

• Create: Create new record(s) in GP
• Update: Update existing record(s) in GP
• Delete: Delete record(s) from GP
• Void: Void records in GP

Destination Object

The Destination Object option allows you to specify which GP object to write data to. A drop-down with available objects is listed here.

Refresh Component button

By clicking this button, the component will retrieve the latest metadata defined in the GP Stored Procedure XML Schema File and update each field. After clicking this button, you will receive a status message indicating how many fields have been updated, added, or deleted.

Map Unmapped Fields button

By clicking this button, the component will map any unmapped GP fields by matching their names with the input columns from the upstream component. This is useful when your source component has recently added more columns, in which case you can use this button to automatically establish associations between input columns and unmapped GP fields.

Clear All Mappings button

By clicking this button, the component will remove all field mappings. You can use this button to reset your mappings.

Expression fx Icon

Click the blue fx icon to launch SSIS Expression Editor to enable dynamic updates of the property at run time.

Generate Documentation Icon

Click the Generate Documentation icon to generate a Word document that describes the component's metadata including relevant mapping, and so on.

Columns Page

The Columns page of GP Destination Component allows you to map the columns from upstream components to GP fields for the destination object.

On the Columns page, you will see a grid with five columns as seen above.

• Input Column: You can select a column from your upstream component to be used as the input of the corresponding GP field.
• Destination GP Field: The GP field where you are writing data.
• Data Type: This column indicates the type of value for the current GP field in the GP system. Typically you would need to pass in the value using the format indicated in the Data Type column.
• Required: Indicates whether the GP field requires an input.
• Default: The default value for the GP field if left unmapped.
• Unmap: This column can be used to unmap the field from the upstream input column, or otherwise it can be used to map the field to an upstream input column by matching its name if the field is not currently mapped.

Error Handling Page

The Error Handling page allows you to specify how errors should be handled when they happen.

There are three options available.

1. Fail on error
2. Redirect rows to error output
3. Ignore error

When the Redirect rows to error output option is selected, rows that failed to write to Dynamics GP will be redirected to the 'Dynamics GP Destination Error Output' output of the Destination Component. As indicated in the screenshot below, the green output connection represents rows that were successfully written, and the red 'Dynamics GP Destination Error Output' connection represents rows that were erroneous. The 'ErrorMessage' output column found in the 'Dynamics GP Destination Error Output' may contain the error message that was reported by Dynamics GP or the component itself.

Note: Use extra caution when selecting Ignore error option, since the component will remain silent for any errors that have occurred.

Using the GP Next Document Number Generator Component

The Dynamics GP NextDocNumber Editor / Generator is used to help you generate the next sequential ID number for given records that do not have automatic ID number generation. For example, you can use this component to generate an ID for a new Sales Order transaction.

GP Connection Manager

Specify the Connection Manager to use so that we can call the appropriate stored procedures against the desired Dynamics GP instance.

NextDocNumber Output Column

This is the name for the output column to create in the output buffer of the NextDocNumber SSIS component. The resulting output column can be used in the mapping of downstream components and will contain the ID that you wish to generate.

Document Transaction Type

Specify the Document Transaction Type.

Transaction Type

Specify the Transaction Type.

DOCID

If you selected the 'Sales Order Processing Transaction' Document Transaction Type, you will need to specify a value for the DOCID. Please see the table SOP40200 in your Dynamics GP database schema to find valid values. E.g. STDORD can be used here.

Expression fx Icon

Click the blue fx icon to launch SSIS Expression Editor to enable dynamic updates of the property at run time.

Generate Documentation Icon

Click the Generate Documentation icon to generate a Word document that describes the component's metadata including relevant mapping, and so on.

GP XML Schema Files

The Dynamics GP Components rely on XML Schema files to determine what objects and their field information are available for data manipulation. Upon installation, default schema files are installed into your installation folder. You may make changes to these schema files, or even indicate your own folder path to your version of the schema files via Registry key edit.

Default Schema file location:

%ProgramFiles%\KingswaySoft\SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics GP\Schemas

Registry Key:

HKey_Local_Machine\Software\KingswaySoft\SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics GP\SchemaDirectory

License Manager

SSIS Integration Toolkit comes with a license manager program that helps you manage and activate the product license key to be used for the toolkit. The below information is useful for development workstations and Single Server license management. For Azure-SSIS IR deployments, license management and activation will be handled through the PowerShell script, see Running SSIS Integration Toolkit on the Cloud for further details.

Without a commercial license, SSIS Integration Toolkit will operate under the Developer License which is free to use for development or evaluation purposes. Under the developer license, you can use the software within the development tool (SSDT-BI, BIDS, or Visual Studio).

The only limitation of the free developer license is the inability to run the software outside of the development tool (SSDT-BI, BIDS, or Visual Studio). If you would like to run the software outside the development tool, such as running SSIS packages on a scheduled basis or from a command line, you will need to acquire a license from us.

If you want to test out the functionality by scheduling your SSIS packages, a trial license can be requested. To do so, you can launch the License Manager program, then click the "Change License Key" button, where you can request a free trial license after filling out the necessary Licensee Information.

If you have received a product license key from us after placing an order through our online shopping cart system, you can also click the "Change License Key" button and enter the product license key in order to activate the software to use the fully-featured commercial license.

The Licensee field is where you will specify the company the software is licensed to, you can include your system's machine name for future reference. For example, the Licensee can be "ABC Inc." or "XYZ Corp (SQLSVR-001)." The Contact Email would be the person we reach out to for any license-related notices such as renewal reminders.

To request a free trial license or activate a product license key that you have received, you can use the Web Service option to complete the process by sending the request to our license server directly. An Internet connection is required when the Web Service option is used. This is the option that we recommend.

Alternatively, you can choose the Email option so that the license manager will generate an email for you which you can send to us. The Email option should only be used if your system has no Internet access. It requires manual processing so please expect to wait for 24 to 48 hours before receiving a license file from us. Once you have received the license file from us through email, you can save it to a local file, which you can then install by clicking the "Install License File..." button in the License Manager.

If you have acquired a license from us, once the software has been activated, your license manager will be shown as below:

Connection Tier will display the number of distinct connections your license supports per connection type within a 24-hour period at runtime. Multiple connections to the same instance are typically treated as 1 distinct connection (exceptions may apply depending on the nature of the service). Selecting the magnify icon will launch the Runtime Connection Usage Summary window which will display counts on the number of connections made per connection type and when the 24-hour period will reset.

You can see your Maintenance Expiry Date in the License Manager program if you are using a perpetual license. By default, your perpetual license comes with a one-year maintenance and upgrade, which entitles you to use any version of the software released before your Maintenance Expiry Date. You can extend it by entering a new maintenance license key that you have acquired from us.

If your commercial license is a subscription license, you will not see the Maintenance Expiry Date option in the License Manager program, since your subscription license comes with maintenance and upgrade for the entire subscription period. Instead, you will see your license expiry date and a progress bar with the number of days left on your subscription.

Note: You must run the License Manager program under a local administrative account due to the privileges required to write license files to the system.